Nelson McCausland MLA
(Democratic Unionist Party - Constituency: North Belfast).
A personal blog in which I comment on a wide variety of issues, political, cultural, social, historical and religious. If something takes my attention, then I may well comment on it.

Monday, 24 February 2014

More alcohol incidents at the Odyssey

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Box nightclub

Two of our local papers on Saturday (22 February) carried front page stories about the Odyssey in Belfast.

The Irish News led with the headline Night out at drink-promo club almost kills teenager. Robert Kelly (19) was found unconscious with hypothermia in the car park at the Odyssey complex just after 2.00 am having been ejected from the Box nightclub where £1 shots and half-price wine were being sold.

Robert Kelly is a cousin of Joby Murphy who died after falling in to the Lagan on 26 January 2012. He had been drinking heavily at another nightclub offering similarly cut-price drinks.

The Thursday night promotion in the Box nightclub is advertised as LOKO THURSDAYS and Robert Kelly was ejected from the nightclub around 1.00 am. A spokesman for the Box said, 'We had 450 people there last night. A couple of people were asked to leave for having consumed too much drink.' An hour later Robert was found outside lying on the ground. Robert's father John Kelly said, 'There's going to be another one. The next boy won't be so lucky.'

Odyssey

The Belfast Telegraph lead with the headline Terrified kids caught up in Odyssey fights. Their report started - 'Families fled in terror as drink-fuelled fights broke out during a rowdy darts tournament hosted in the Odyssey Arena.

One person at the event said, 'It was all just drink-fuelled, everybody was quite drunk towards the end of the night.' Another said, 'It was a bit of a rough and ready atmosphere and the amount of booze at it was unreal. I saw one guy take on about seven bouncers.'

These incidents come just days after the night when around 100 young people at the Odyssey were heavily intoxicated with some requiring hospital treatment.

A responsible retailing code has been introduced and health minister Edwin Poots has commissioned research on the benefits of setting a minimum price for alcohol but clearly there is nothing responsible about serving alcohol to someone who is so drunk that he has to be ejected and is soon unconscious.